Iraq in 1998

Area: 435,052 sq km (167,975 sq mi)

Population (1998 est.): 21,722,000

Capital: Baghdad

Head of state and government: President and Prime Minister Saddam Hussein

In December 1998 relations between Iraq and the international community took a turn for the worse. On December 14 the UN chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler, submitted a report to the UN accusing Iraq of failing to cooperate with the UN inspectors. Three days later, on December 17, the United States and Great Britain began a four-day air attack on selected targets in Iraq, including key military installations, government buildings, and communications centres, that were believed either to facilitate Iraq’s capabilities for producing weapons of mass destruction or to pose a threat to its neighbours. Both countries also announced that they would support efforts of the Iraqi opposition to unseat the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein.

Since the fall of 1997, Iraq had toughened its stand against sanctions and the international weapons inspectors and monitors. These sanctions were to remain until the UN Security Council had been assured that Iraq had destroyed all its weapons of mass destruction and the means to produce them. In February there was a major crisis between Iraq and the UN Security Council over Iraq’s refusal to allow weapons inspectors access to "presidential" and "sensitive areas." The UN Security Council denounced the Iraqi refusal, and the U.S., supported by Great Britain, mobilized military forces in the Persian Gulf and threatened Iraq with the use of force to guarantee the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) inspectors access to all areas in Iraq as needed. A military confrontation was avoided when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reached an agreement with Iraq on February 22 in which Iraq withdrew its objections to UNSCOM’s spot inspections. Cooperation broke down again on August 5, however, when Iraq suspended relations with the UNSCOM inspectors while allowing monitoring of known sites to continue. The UN Security Council rejected this action and on September 9 canceled the regular bimonthly review of the sanctions, a move that effectively continued them indefinitely. Late in December after the bombing had stopped, Iraq fired missiles at U.S. and British aircraft that were patrolling the "no-fly" zones (barred to Iraqi aircraft) in northern and southern Iraq. No planes were shot down, and they retaliated by bombing an Iraqi air-defense battery.

On February 20 the UN Security Council passed a resolution increasing the amount of oil Iraq would be allowed to export under the "oil for food" program. The decision was made after it became obvious that the income generated by current oil sales was insufficient for satisfying the population’s basic needs. Now in their eighth year, sanctions had taken a heavy toll on the Iraqi people. The standard of living was drastically lowered, and the rate of inflation remained high. Hardest hit was the once-flourishing middle class, which had suffered so much that its continued existence as a social force was threatened.

The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) of Mas!ud al-Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Jalal at-Talabani, continued to control separate parts of northern Iraq. The two groups had been fighting since 1994, despite mediation by the U.S. and several past agreements to end their feuds. In September the U.S. brokered an agreement between the two leaders that included revenue and power sharing, a general election, and a security arrangement including a pledge to circumscribe the activities of the anti-Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. The two sides also endorsed a form of "federalism," the details of which were not specified, for the Kurds in Iraq after Pres. Saddam Hussein left power. Turkey was alarmed by this agreement, which appeared to recognize a "Kurdish political entity" in northern Iraq. Mindful of the restiveness of its own Kurdish population, Turkey announced on September 27 that it would restore full diplomatic relations with Iraq and sent a Turkish ambassador to Baghdad for the first time since 1992.

Iraq also improved relations with Syria and Iran. On July 14 an agreement to open the oil pipeline connecting Iraq’s Kirkuk field to the Syrian port of Banias was announced. The pipeline was shut down by Syria in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq and Syria also met in the fall of 1998 to discuss distribution of waters from the Euphrates River, an important source of irrigation for both countries. The source of the Euphrates is in Turkey, and both Iraq and Syria accused Turkey of affecting downstream flow by building dikes and other irrigation works. Turkey declined an invitation to attend these meetings. An overland border station between Iran and Iraq was opened, and on April 2, 1998, the two countries exchanged 862 prisoners captured during the Iran-Iraq war. It was also agreed that Iraq would allow Iranian pilgrims to visit the Shi!ite holy cities in Iraq, and in mid-August the first group of Iranian pilgrims crossed the border into Iraq.